Percy Jackson - An Echo Of What Is To Come
by ZestGod5
Summary: No one asked them what happened. They knew that Tartarus had changed them. But they didn't know how much. They didn't know. And how could they? Hell, Annabeth didn't even know, and she knew pretty much everything as far as everyone was concerned. But it's not what you know that gets you in the end. It's the unknown, it's what happens in the dark that can catch you by surprise. And
1. The Beginning Of The End

On Akhly's third attack, Annabeth wasn't so lucky. She tried to veer aside, but the goddess grabbed Annabeth's wrist and pulled her hard, sending her sprawling.

Before the goddess could pounce, Percy advanced, yelling and waving his sword. He still felt about as solid as a Kleenex, but his anger seemed to help him move faster. He hated tartarus, and he was _sick and tired_ of things not working out for them. Of the constant pain

"Hey, Happy!" he yelled.

Akhlys spun, dropping Annabeth's arm. "Happy?" she demanded.

"Yeah!" He ducked as she swiped at his head. "You're downright cheerful!"

"Arggh!" She lunged again, but she was off balance. Percy sidestepped and backed away, leading the goddess farther from Annabeth.

"Pleasant!" he called. "Delightful!"

The goddess snarled and winced. She stumbled after Percy. Each compliment seemed to hit her like sand in the face.

"I will kill you slowly!" she growled, her eyes and nose watering, blood dripping from her cheeks. "I will cut you into pieces as a sacrifice to Night!"

Annabeth struggled to her feet. She started rifling through her pack, no doubt looking for something that might help.

Percy wanted to give her more time. She was the brains. Better for him to get attacked while she came up with a brilliant plan.

"Cuddly!" Percy yelled. "Fuzzy, warm, and huggable!"

Akhlys made a growling, choking noise, like a cat having a seizure.

"A slow death!" she screamed. "A death from a thousand poisons!"

All around her, poisonous plants grew and burst like overfilled balloons. Green-and-white sap trickled out, collecting into pools, and began flowing across the ground toward Percy. The sweet-smelling fumes made his head feel wobbly.

"Percy!" Annabeth's voice sounded far away. "Uh, hey, Miss Wonderful! Cheerful! Grins! Over here!"

But the goddess of misery was now fixated on Percy. He tried to retreat again. Unfortunately the poison ichor flowed all around him now, making the ground steam and the air burn. Percy found himself stuck on an island of dust not much bigger than a shield. A few yards away, his backpack smoked and dissolved into a puddle of goo. Percy had nowhere to go.

He fell to one knee. He wanted to tell Annabeth to run, but he couldn't speak. His throat was as dry as dead leaves.

He wished there were water in Tartarus—some nice pool he could jump into to heal himself, or maybe a river he could control. He'd settle for a bottle of Evian."You will feed the eternal darkness," Akhlys said. "You will die in the arms of Night!"

He was dimly aware of Annabeth shouting, throwing random pieces of drakon jerky at the goddess. The white-green poison kept pooling, little streams trickling from the plants as the venomous lake around him got wider and wider.

Lake, he thought. Streams. Water.

Probably it was just his brain getting fried from poison fumes, but he croaked out a laugh. Poison was liquid. The blood on Akhly's cheeks was a liquid. If it moved like water, it must be partially water.

He remembered some science lecture about the human body being mostly water. He remembered extracting water from Jason's lungs back in Rome.… If he could control that, then why not other liquids?

It was a crazy idea. Poseidon was the god of the sea, not of every liquid everywhere.

Then again, Tartarus had its own rules. Fire was drinkable. The ground was the body of a dark god. The air was acid, and demigods could be turned into smoky corpses.

So why not try? He had nothing left to lose.

He glared at the poison flood encroaching from all sides. He concentrated so hard that something inside him cracked—as if a crystal ball had shattered in his stomach.

Warmth flowed through him. The poison tide stopped.

The fumes blew away from him—back toward the goddess. The lake of poison rolled toward her in tiny waves and rivulets. The blood on her cheeks started to move across her face.

Akhlys shrieked. "What is this?"

"Poison," Percy said. "That's your specialty, right?"

He stood, his anger growing hotter in his gut. As the flood of venom rolled toward the goddess, the fumes began to make her cough. Her eyes watered even more.

Oh, good, Percy thought. More water.

Percy imagined her nose and throat filling with her own tears. The blood on her face wrapping around her throat.

Akhlys gagged. "I—" The tide of venom reached her feet, sizzling like droplets on a hot iron. She wailed and stumbled back.

"Percy!" Annabeth called.

She'd retreated to the edge of the cliff, even though the poison wasn't after her. She sounded terrified. It took Percy a moment to realize she was terrified of him.

"Stop…" she pleaded, her voice hoarse.

He didn't want to stop. He wanted to choke this goddess. He wanted to watch her drown in her own poison. He wanted to see just how much misery Misery could take.

"Percy, please…" Annabeth's face was still pale and corpse-like, but her eyes were the same as always. The anguish in them made Percy's anger fade. But he couldn't ignore the small satisfaction inside of him for finally, _finally,_ being the one who ended up with power, without being the one trampled on.

He turned to the goddess. He willed the poison to recede, creating a small path of retreat along the edge of the cliff.

"Leave!" he bellowed.

For an emaciated ghoul, Akhlys could run pretty fast when she wanted to. She scrambled along the path, fell on her face, and got up again, wailing as she sped into the dark.

As soon as she was gone, the pools of poison evaporated. The plants withered to dust and blew away.

Annabeth stumbled toward him. She looked like a corpse wreathed in smoke, but she felt solid enough when she gripped his arms.

"Percy, please don't ever…" Her voice broke in a sob. "Some things aren't meant to be controlled. Please."

His whole body tingled with power, but the anger was subsiding. The broken glass inside him was beginning to smooth at the edges.

"Yeah," he said. "Yeah, okay."

"Promise me Percy." She pleaded.

"Ok..ok, yeah, I promise." Annabeth then leaned her head against his chest.

Neither of them said anything about how he didn't swear it on the River Styx.

"We have to get away from this cliff," Annabeth said. "If Akhlys brought us here as some kind of sacrifice…"

Percy tried to think. He was getting used to moving with the Death Mist around him. He felt more solid, more like himself. But his mind still felt stuffed with cotton.

"She said something about feeding us to the night," he remembered. "What was that about?"

The temperature dropped. The abyss before them seemed to exhale.

Percy grabbed Annabeth and backed away from the edge as a presence emerged from the void—a form so vast and shadowy, he felt like he understood the concept of dark for the first time.

"I imagine," said the darkness, in a feminine voice as soft as coffin lining, "that she meant Night, with a capital N. After all, I am the only one."

ANNABETH HAD NEVER BEEN SCARED OF THE DARK.

But normally the dark wasn't forty feet tall. It didn't have black wings, a whip made out of stars, and a shadowy chariot pulled by vampire horses.

Nyx was almost too much to take in. Looming over the chasm, she was a churning figure of ash and smoke, as big as the Athena Parthenos statue, but very much alive. Her dress was void black, mixed with the colors of a space nebula, as if galaxies were being born in her bodice. Her face was hard to see except for the pinpoints of her eyes, which shone like quasars. When her wings beat, waves of darkness rolled over the cliffs, making Annabeth feel heavy and sleepy, her eyesight dim.

The goddess's chariot was made of the same material as Nico di Angelo's sword—Stygian iron—and pulled by two massive horses, all black except for their pointed silver fangs. The beasts' legs floated in the abyss, turning from solid to smoke as they moved.

The horses snarled and bared their fangs at Annabeth. The goddess lashed her whip—a thin streak of stars like diamond barbs—and the horses reared back.

"No, Shade," the goddess said. "Down, Shadow. These little prizes are not for you."

Percy eyed the horses as they nickered. He was still shrouded in Death Mist, so he looked like an out-of-focus corpse—which broke Annabeth's heart every time she saw him. It also must not have been very good camouflage, since Nyx could obviously see them.

Annabeth couldn't read the expression on Percy's ghoulish face very well. Apparently he didn't like whatever the horses were saying.

"Uh, so you won't let them eat us?" he asked the goddess. "They really want to eat us."

Nyx's quasar eyes burned. "Of course not. I would not let my horses eat you, any more than I would let Akhlys kill you. Such fine prizes, I will kill you myself!"

Percy slowly pulled out Riptide in its pen form. "I don't know if I can let you do that."

"How do you plan on stopping me demigod? I am the Night. I can smell your fear like a wafting perfume. It's been so long since I've killed two pure souls such as your-" and then she suddenly stopped talking.

"Uh… Nyx? Maybe we can-" Annabeth began, but was cut off by Nyx.

"Quite, demigod. I'm not interested in you." The towering form of Nyx suddenly turned into a cloud of darkness that surged forward and recondensed into the same form Nyx last had, but now right in front of them and around 6 feet tall. "But you, Son of Poseidon. I can feel the power of the sea rolling off you..." Then she stepped forward and ran her thumb along Percy's cheek in an endearing, thoughtful way. "But that is not all I sense inside of you."

Annabeth didn't like the way the primordial was looking - not to mention touching - her boyfriend. It was like Nyx was staring through his eyes and into the depths of his soul. She couldn't believe that of all the times, now would be when that hateful feeling of jealousy could rise up. In Tartarus. With Nyx! "Could you not touch my boyfriend like that?" She said irritably.

Then Nyx turned on her and raised her hand, "I said. Be. Quite. Your boyfriend and I need to have a little chat." and then a blast of darkness flew from her open palm, hitting Annabeth in the chest and making her world go dark.


	2. A Gift

Percy's POV

"What did you do?" Percy demanded, checking Annabeth for a pulse. Finding it, he sighed in relief, but then turned on Nyx with a clenched jaw and his hands in fists. "Well?"

"Calm yourself, godling. She will wake up soon. But we needed privacy for this." The darkened figure in front of him seemed unmoved by his anger.

Percy snorted and couldn't help but crack the tiniest grin. "Look, I'm sure that you're very attractive, but I already have a girlfriend and I'm not that interested in a figure of shadows, so if we can just go on our way…"

Percy was very proud that he made a primordial goddess roll her eyes. At least until he watched shadows wrap around Annabeth's throat.

"You will listen, and you will listen intently, or she will suffer the consequences. Understood?" When Percy nodded warily, Nyx lips curved upwards, but her eyes remained cold. "Good. You must be wondering why I haven't killed you yet, but the answer is quite simple Perseus. In you, I can sense a small seed of darkness, just waiting to be released."

"What do you mean… Are you talking about that thing with Ahklys? Because I did what I had to do to-" Nyx cut Percy off.

"It's not just that - though I will admit that watching you choke her with her own liquids was quite delectable - but what really intrigues me is what I saw when you did it. The fear, the anger... and the hate. Just a little bundle of darkness, deep inside of _you_." With that Nyx smiled widely, "And I can't wait to watch it grow."

Percy couldn't help but laugh a little hysterically at the whole situation. He was cloaked in the Death Mist, standing on the edge of the chaos from which everything began, speaking to a being made of darkness and dressed in galaxies in front of her house made of eternal shadows. And she was talking to him about his feelings! "Look, I'm really loving this heart to heart but can you wake Annabeth up from whatever it was you did and we can part-" But Nyx interrupted his tirade with no regard to the fact that he had been speaking. The disrespect on this Primordial!

"You know you'll die down here." It wasn't a question, it was a statement and one Nyx made flatly.

At this Percy got serious as well. "We'll survive, we've always found a way and this will be no different."

Nyx's giggle was a little on the crazy side. "Not without help you won't. Don't bother with your bravado, godling. My brother awaits you at the Doors of Death. You're very strong, but you're not that strong." Then she bared her teeth in what Percy could only assume was her true smile. "So I thought I'd lend a hand."

"We don't want your help." On the inside Percy knew they really could use her help, but he hated owing favours to immortals. They always came to collect at the worst times.

"Oh don't worry Perseus. My help comes with no strings attached. I just want to watch what happens." When a very confused Percy continued to give her a slightly blank look, she huffed and went on. "I want to watch what happens to _you."_

Percy was very creeped out at this point. She was crazy, and all he wanted to do was grab Annabeth and run but he couldn't because a band of shadow threatened to choke the life out of his still unconscious girlfriend. He needed to find a way out, and fast, before this crazy goddess decided to kill them both. So he did what he did best. He started to make things up as he went.

Percy regretted the words as they came out of his mouth, especially when he watched Nyx's smile grow. "Fine, we'll take your help."

"Good." And then she held out her hands, and suddenly the shadows from over the edge of the cliff rose like a mist from a pond on a cold morning, and crawled ominously towards Nyx. The cloud of shadows swirled up Nyx's body, and began to coalesce into an object in her hands. The darkness began to dissipate into whatever it was she held, as if it was consuming the shadows itself. And when the object had finally had its fill of darkness, Percy saw that it was a sword that laid across her outstretched palms. And he was entranced. "This is for you, Perseus."

There was a sudden heaviness to the atmosphere around them, akin to standing near a god, but Percy didn't notice because he couldn't take his eyes off the sword. It's black hand-and-a-half hilt was adorned with the skull of a goat. Silver-black metal made up the long blade, and just above the hilt the blade itself was unevenly serrated, but grew to two sharp edges until meeting in a point. Down the center of the blade were strange inscriptions from some other language. But one thing was clear - this sword had been made to not just kill, but to strike terror in those who saw it. There was a certain sinister beauty to the weapon. I noticed it all in a second. "But… I, Uh, I already have a sword." And he did, he loved Riptide. But Nyx continued to speak as if he didn't say anything at all.

"This blade was crafted from the hardened blood of an evil god, now long dead. The last man to wield it did so before the Age of the Titans… and you remind me so much of him. Both of you, willing to do anything for those you care about. Regardless, even I do not know the extent of this weapons abilities. I do know it will give you the power you need to escape, and so much more." Nyx held the blade out to him, a very serious look on her face. "Take it."

Percy suddenly noticed the aura the blade gave off. It was like standing near the Helm of Darkness. This weapon gave off waves of terror and a promise of pain. Percy knew that the sword could probably help, after all only powerful objects give off auras like this. But he also had a sense of foreboding about the whole situation. Why was she, an obviously crazy and powerful primordial, helping him. Plus, Percy tended to like being happy, and anything similar to the misery-incarnate Helm of Darkness was definitely something to stay away from. There was also the minor fact that the aura of the sword reminded Percy of how _good_ it felt to choke Akhlys, but Percy shoved that last thought into the deepest parts of his mind. "I'm sorry Nyx, but I don't think I can do that."

Nyx, however, was prepared for this answer. She pushed tendrils of shadow towards the daughter of Athena, suspending her in the air in the position of a crucifix, and beginning to squeeze her throat if her struggling was anything to go by. "If you don't, she dies."

Percy's eyes widened and he clenched his fists. _Could he take on a Primordial and escape with Annabeth?_ But even as he asked himself that question he knew what would happen. They'd both die down here, quicker then one could say 'dam the night.' Squeezing his eyes tightly, Percy spat out "Fine, but you have to tell me why you're doing this. Why me? Why now?" When his eyes opened, Nyx had to hide her shock at how they had changed from their almost gentle green to a darker, wilder, deeper green.

"Calm yourself. She is safe now." And Annabeth went from suspended by shadows and choking, to just suspended. A major improvement. "To answer your questions, I have chosen this because you truly _fascinate _me. You are a hero. An agent of good. But I can sense your inner turmoil, your inner darkness. Your hidden thoughts are of the night, and they call to me." Nyx paused to give him an appraising once-over, as if he were a horse up for auction. "When you are alone, and you face the inky blackness that comes as dusk becomes night, this weapon will be your light in the darkness. It will guide you to every secret that darkness hides, and in turn… it will make you one with that darkness. Take it." Those last words did not encourage Percy, but even as he tried to step backwards, his hand moved forwards. He didn't want this, but he had to do what he had to do to survive. So Percy reached out and grabbed the hilt of the blade, and his world became pain.

Percy did honourable thing - he passed out.

He woke up in a comfy, warm bed. When did he get into a four-poster bed with curtains? Why was he wearing a silk shirt? He always slept in his boxers... What was going on? He started to look around in a bit of a panic. The room was made of huge blocks of heavy grey stone. A fire roared in a hearth big enough to fit three people inside it, with a golden lion standing proudly on the mantle. Through the light of the fire he saw tapestries like the ones that decorated Arachne's dungeon adorn the walls, and cushioned chairs made of an expensive looking wood that were beautifully crafted and carved. Where in the Hades was he? Then, almost as if Percy didn't have control of his body, he looked to his right and immediately calmed down. On a grand stone balcony, in a white nightgown that shone silver in the moonlight, Annabeth stood with her back to him while looking out over the ocean. Her beautiful princess curls gave her an ethereal look as they tumbled down to her shoulders in a gleaming cascade. She would know what was going, so Percy rose to go greet her. He walked out of the room, and received what seemed like the one thousandth shock of the day. This was worse than when he tried to annoy Thalia.

The balcony was high up in the air, and clearly a part of a sprawling castle constructed with the same heavy grey stone. A city was orderly placed around it, different districts categorized by different coloured roofs , and directly away from the window was a port filled with ancient sailing ships. The view of the sea was calming but Percy was still troubled, yet he didn't want to ruin Annabeth's moment - she looked so at peace. So he merely wrapped his arms around his girlfriend and leaned forward to rest his head on her shoulder. She was still shorter than him, much to her chagrin. Percy took a deep breath and inhaled her scent of vanilla and a hint of… orange? He closed his eyes as he felt her hands lay on top of hers at her waist and smiled as she turned around. Staring deeply into her incredibly blue eyes, Percy leaned down and graced her lips with his for just a heartbeat, only to pull away quickly. _Blue Eyes? What?_

Percy took a closer look at the-girl-who-was-Annabeth-but-wasn't. She looked almost identical to Annabeth, but he now noticed her height didn't come up to his nose anymore but rather his mouth, that this version had lost the last vestiges of the baby fat in her cheeks and had continued to fill out in all the right places… it was almost as if Annabeth had gotten older and even more beautiful. He broke from his mental diatribe when the blue-eyed Annabeth murmured softly, "Arthas?" And then his world spun once again.

Percy opened his eyes to the same purple-orange sky of Tartarus. His body ached, worse than before, if that was even possible. What the Hades… What was that? A vision for sure, but it made no sense, and it was clearly triggered by the sword. Percy then remembered where he was. He used the sword as a crutch, and stood up to face Nyx again.

"What the Hades was that Nyx? What did I just see?" Percy demanded, trying to ignore how his voice shook slightly.

"What do you mean 'what did I just see?' Passing out during a power transfer of that capacity is understandable, but having a vision… well not even us primordials are privy to every secret of the universe." Nyx paused, her face betraying for one measly second that she was thinking hard, only to continue like nothing had happened. "Pay attention to this and any future visions, like a demigod dream they could reveal much."

Percy shook his head, and couldn't help the frown on his face. "Whatever, big bundle of help you've been." At that Nyx bristled "Our deal's complete. I've handled my side, time for you to attend to yours."

At that Nyx let Annabeth drop like a sack of potatoes, leaving her sprawled on the ground. Behind her, a bridge of solid darkness formed over the void and into a suddenly formed set of doors. It was as if a dark path led them to a black hole. "Those doors will take you into my home and through to the banks of the River Acheron. Do not open your eyes whatsoever, until you are at the river. Your mortal minds could not process what they would see."

Percy nodded, but then asked "What should I do with the sword? I can't carry it and Annabeth at the same time?"

But Nyx waved her hand, and percy watched as the sword morphed into a ring of the same metal as the blade, with a small goats skull adorning it. Percy untied his camp necklace and added the ring to it, and then picked Annabeth up bridal-style. Without another glance in Nyx's direction, he started to trek towards the Mansion of Night.

When he was about ten feet away, Nyx suddenly called to him, "Frostmourne."

"What?" Percy asked, not even bothering to turn around.

"The sword is called Frostmourne." Nyx said, but percy just gave her a swift nod and continued to walk away. There was no way he was ever going to touch that thing.


	3. Back Above Ground

As Percy carried Annabeth through the Mansion of Night, he knew something. He felt weird. Not weird as in "I feel uncomfortable and a little sick," even though there was that feeling too, Tartarus sucked. But he also felt _energized. _Even though he knew this place was literally killing him, Percy had never felt so formidable in his entire life. It was weird to feel both at his weakest and his strongest.

Ignoring the fact that it most likely had to do with the ring on his necklace, Percy ran further with his eyes shut tightly, and eventually sensed the river right in front of him. How the Hades was He supposed to get across the River… Achy? It was easily twenty feet across, and based off of the whispers he was currently trying to ignore, didn't hold any similarities to the lazy river at Six Flags. Percy knew he needed to hurry up and get away from the Mansion of Night. Even with Nyx's promise of help, Percy could feel the Death Mist and the atmosphere of the mansion literally draining away his life. Feeling great and having his body slowly die was very strange to him, and yet he knew that he was a mortal in a place that was not built for mortals.

But Percy didn't know how big of a mistake it was to stand on the banks of the river. He couldn't ignore the voices. Bianca di Angelo whispering that it should have been Percy, not her, that died at the hands of Talos. Zoe Nightshade accusing him of not being strong enough to help save her life. And maybe she was right. If Percy had been stronger, he could have defeated Atlas, and potentially saved her life. "_Join us," _the voices muttered, "_you're a murderer. How many are dead at your hand?" _A lot, if Percy stopped to count. "_You killed Micheal Lee, you abandoned him to the watery depths. Why didn't you do more? What about the monsters you slaughter everyday?" _But they were monsters. "_They still had souls, were still living and breathing beings." _The voices did not let up. "_If you could just die, think of how many would be saved? Swim with us. Join. Us. It's what you deserve." _Where the voices wrong? "_We can take away the pain of existence. Suffer with us, murderer."_

"Percy?" A voice softly broke through the onslaught of accusations in his head. Maybe Percy should just walk into the River, it would be a proper punishment. Better for everyone. "_Join us. Join. Us. JOIN US. JOIN US JOIN USJOINUSJOINUS-"_

"Percy!" Suddenly a hand roughly grabbed the neck of his shirt, and pulled him back. Without even realizing it, Percy had been leaning towards the river, on the verge of falling in.

"You're awake." Percy breathed, pulling her tightly against him. "We can't stay here. Nyx told me this is the River Acheron. We need to cross it."

"The River Acheron? Nyx! Percy - wait hold on, why was I unconscious? _What is going on?" _Annabeth was nearly yelling by now.

"Annabeth, just calm do-"

"Don't you dare tell me to calm down Perseus! I swear to the gods if you don't start explaining right now you won't like finding out what I can do with my new sword!" She was glaring murduriously at him, and Percy would have thought it cute if she didn't look dead at the same time.

"I'll explain everything, _after_ we cross the river. This is not a good place to be. The second I look away from you I start to hear the voices. We need to go Annabeth, we can talk later." Percy asserted. But what could he do? At this point his only option was to jump across the river, and there was no way he could possibly do that… And then Percy reached forward and picked her up again.

"What are you doing." Annabeth's voice had gone suspiciously flat, which Percy recognized as her _I am on the verge of killing you in a painfully slow way _voice.

"Trust me." Percy said, doing his best to assuage her with his trademark grin, ignoring that it lost a lot of its power with the Death-Mist. And this really was just a bluff. He had no idea why he suddenly felt incredible, but he also knew that feeling incredible and slowly dying was not a good combination. In his greatest bout of rash decision making, Percy crouched down, and as Annabeth opened her mouth to once again question him, he jumped.

She gave a small squawk as they soared through the air, landing smoothly on the other side. Percy couldn't keep the surprise off his face. _How in the fu-_

Annabeth joined that thought with a breathless, "How did you do that? Percy... what is going on?"

Percy stared into her eyes for a long time. "I promise I'll explain eventually. But can we please just get away from this river." He grabbed her hand and started to pull her away from the River Acheron and into the depths of Tartarus

"Are you sure you don't need anything else, Annabeth?" Piper asked. Hazel, Piper, and Annabeth were sitting in Annabeth's cabin on the Argo II while Annabeth drank steaming-hot tea. They had come in to try and talk to Annabeth, draw her a bit more out of her funk. Piper had known that Tartarus had really messed with them. Of course it had. They had literally gone through hell. So the Seven and Hedge, minus Percy and Annabeth, had come to an agreement. They'd do their part. They'd overlook the two of them sneaking into each other's room at night. They'd pretend to not be bothered when yelling and screams woke them up in the middle of the night. And when there were no monsters around and they had the time, they would find their clearly damaged friends, and do their best to help put them back together. Sometimes they'd go in groups, like now, and sometimes they'd go alone. They'd switch up who went to go see who, and today, Piper and Hazel were going to go see Annabeth. Just to be there for her.

"I'm sure," Annabeth said, with a weak smile. "Thank you for being here for me. You really don't have to." It killed Piper a little to see how Tartarus had changed Annabeth. Percy, other than the changes that malnutrition and multiple injuries left, looked to be recovering quickly. For all intensive purposes, it seemed like the Hero of Olympus had come through Tartarus for the most part unscathed. It made sense to Piper. She wouldn't admit it, but her once admittedly shallow assessment of Percy had almost immediately changed during their time on the Argo II. And Piper had held Annabeth on that same pedestal she had put Percy on. And now, it seemed that Percy was fine, but Annabeth had fallen off. She was thin. Her beautiful face now had sunken cheeks, and huge bags underneath her eyes. She had lost a dangerous amount of weight. Piper noticed that Annabeth never let her new sword - which they had yet to receive any explanation about - stray more than a foot away from her.

"We're your friends, Annabeth. We're here for you and Percy, anything you need, just ask." Piper said softly, putting a hand on Annabeth's knee. "Speaking of Mr. Tall-dark-and-handsome, how is it spending every night with Percy? Do I need to sit you two down for the birds and bees?" Piper had expected a blush and a small grin from Annabeth at her joke.

She had not expected Annabeth's face to turn into a strange mix of tears and an angry frown.

"Do you really mean that?" Annabeth said quietly.

"No! No, I'm just joking Annabeth I wouldn't actually sit you two down for the talk, if you really need it Coach Hedge should-" Piper spluttered out, but was interrupted by Annabeth saying helplessly,

"Do you really mean that you're here for us? That you'd do whatever it took to help us?"

At this point Hazel jumped in while shooting a quick glare Piper's way. "Of course Annabeth. Just say the word." _Thank you, Hazel, _Piper thought. But what Annabeth said next shocked her.

"Then get out of my room, and go talk to Percy." Piper felt her jaw drop. She heard Hazel let out a surprised "Oh!"

"Any reason why?" Piper began, "I mean this in the best possible way, but I think our time is better spent in here." But Annabeth just looked even more frustrated.

"No! I'm sure Tartarus has messed with my head and will continue to do so forever. But I need you girls to go and help Percy. Please." Piper was a little shocked at the determination that shone through Annabeth's teary, stormy grey eyes.

"Did something happen between you two Annabeth?" Piper said, scooting a little closer on the bed. But Annabeth just got more despondent.

"That's the thing. I… I have no _fucking idea_ what happened." Annabeth said, putting her face into her hands as she let out a painful sob. Piper wrapped an arm around her shoulders and drew Annabeth closer. She knew things had to be bad, because Annabeth only swore when things were really bad. Like really, really bad. In fact, the last time Piper remembered Annabeth swearing was when she had been pranked by the Stolls during Percy's disappearance. The Stolls thought they were helping to relieve the tension, but by the gods did they ever find out otherwise.

"It's ok Annabeth, just let it out and explain. We're here to listen." Piper murmured. At this Annabeth took a deep, shuddering breath, and opened with, "Something happened down there." Piper and Hazel looked at each other, a bit confused at this point, but Annabeth continued. "While we were down there, we came across Nyx, the Primordial Goddess of the Night. She said she was going to kill us, but suddenly stopped, and took a huge interest in Percy." At that Annabeth's eyes narrowed even further, which made Piper crack up a little on the inside. She didn't know what it was, but there was something about Percy that just attracted immortals. Poor Annabeth. Piper was broken from her reverie by Annabeth continuing her story. "I told Nyx to back off, and then she turns to me, tells me to be quiet, and knocks me out! Next thing I know, Percy's carrying me, telling me how we'd just walked through the Mansion of Night and need to cross the River Acheron in front of us. I tried to ask him what was happening, and rather than responding, he jumps. That kelp-for-brains, seaweed breath piece of -"

"Annabeth!" Hazel reprimanded, with a slight blush.

"Sorry," Annabeth sighed, " I'm sorry, I'm just… I'm so worried." And at that she looked like she was about to devolve into tears again, so Piper prompted her.

"You said Percy jumped?"

Annabeth gave a small jump when Piper spoke, as if she was lost in her own little world. "Right… yeah, so Seaweed Brain jumps a twenty-foot wide river with me in his arms. I ask him to explain again, but he just says we should get away from the Acheron and that he'll explain later. It continues like that for the rest of our time in Tartarus, Percy just doing things he shouldn't really be able to do, and acting like he has a ton of energy all of a sudden. Now, whenever I ask him what happened when I was unconscious or why he was able to do some absolutely impossible things, he avoids the question. He's suddenly tired and wants to take a nap, or, all of sudden he is picking up Jason's turn on watch. I know he's not telling me what happened. But I don't understand! We tell eachother _everything. _Hades, he told me where his Achilles spot was back when he had the curse!"

Piper was shocked that Annabeth had gone off on this tirade. Usually she was so - composed. If there was someone everyone agreed should lead the quest, it was the intelligent, wise daughter of Athena. And now she was miserable, a borderline mess. "Before we reunited, I knew he was a world apart. But now that I have him back within reach, he's just slowly drifting away from me. And I _hate _it." The venom in her voice wrenched at Piper's heart. She knew all about relationship troubles.

"So do you want us to ask him what happened for you?" Hazel queried.

"No... I think I just needed someone to talk to about it. I'm already getting a plan together. I'm going to corner him when he least expects it, and he _will_ tell me what happened. Thank you, both of you." And Annabeth suddenly smiled, though it was impaired by the blotchiness left by her tears.

"Umm," Piper began, "I don't think we really did anything… but you're welcome?"

Hazle let out a little giggle at that, but she too looked a little confused. "I'm trying to say thank you for listening. Honestly, I am doing better. Especially now that we've talked. I'm tired, I'm just going to take a nap and I'll see you at dinner. Come get me if I'm not there, ok?" At that, Annabeth stood to shut the door behind Hazel and Piper as the girls walked out.

"See you later Beth!" Piper said as the door shut behind them.

It was followed by a muffled "Don't call me that!" which had been shouted through the door.

As Piper walked back to her room to also take a nap - Annabeth had good ideas - she saw Jason step outside of Percy's room, who laughed at something before he softly shut the door. He turned and gave her a wide but tired smile. "Hey," Jason said as he stepped closer and gave her a hug. "How's Annabeth?"

Piper took a second to think but then spoke softly, "I think she's getting better. Slowly, but she's still getting better. She's really worried about Percy though. He's hiding something, apparently, and she's really unhappy about it." This made Jason frown.

"Of course Percy's hiding something, and I would bet you Annabeth is too. You don't come out of a place like that without a few things you don't want to share."

Piper also frowned slightly. "I don't know Sparky, she was really upset about this." However Jason seemed to shake off Piper's concern.

"Trust me Piper, I've been trying to hangout with him every single day whenever I'm free. Yeah, he takes a lot of naps, but I'm sure that he's only resting. He just got back from Tartarus. That place isn't necessarily a cakewalk." Jason explained. But Piper still wasn't sure she agreed with him.

"I know that, but you didn't see Annabeth when she spoke about it. I haven't seen her like that, well, ever. Just, keep a close eye on him, ok? Promise me?" Piper implored.

"Alright, I will, I promise. Honestly though, I think we're pretty close to getting him back - the old Percy. I could swear he's doing okay." And with that Jason left Piper with a chaste kiss to go on watch duty before dinner, and Piper left to go take a nap.

Percy flashed a smile at Jason as he left the room. It didn't reach his eyes. But Jason didn't notice that. Once Jason shut the door, Percy got up and made sure that it was shut, and then slumped against the door, letting out a massive breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding. Jason, Frank, Leo, every time they had a free second, they came by his room. Percy knew they meant well, he did. But he couldn't help the feeling that he was being smothered. When they came around, Percy put on a smile, made a few jokes. He wore his mask well, and he knew he was convincing them that he was getting better. That the nightmares were going away, that the shadows didn't jump out from the walls at him. Percy knew it wasn't right, but he needed his space. He didn't need anyone else to see his weakness, Hades, he had a hard enough time just keeping it from Annabeth. But that hurt more then Percy cared to admit, and so he shoved the thought into the back of his mind.

Mainly, Percy need to sleep. Lately, he had been trying everything he could to get a good night's rest. On a normal night that wasn't the easiest thing, but now, Percy couldn't help but dream of _her. _Percy honestly felt a little guilty. If Annabeth knew he spent the few hours of sleep he got every night dreaming of another girl, she would flip out. He shuddered at the thought of what parts of him she would try to cut off if she found out. But that really wasn't the worst of it - no, what was the worst was that in those dreams, Percy felt like himself. When the two of them went on rides through the countryside, or had picnics under the moonlight, Percy felt like he was with Annabeth. They acted the same, their conversations, while covering different topics, carried the same vein of humour and love. When they kissed, it felt the same, and when they snuck through the castle that they so often found themselves in at the darkest hours of the night, only to meet in beautiful moonlit gardens… the only difference to Percy was the fact that in these dreams, he did not answer to Percy, and she did not answer to Annabeth. And her eyes were blue. But they _were_ real. They were more than just dreams. He knew it.

Percy threw himself onto the bed. While he had been using the 'nap' excuse quite frequently, most of the time it wasn't an excuse. Percy really did need to sleep, but when he dreamed of her, or when he dreamed of Tartarus, he woke up and could not get to sleep. Most of the time, Percy collapsed out of exhaustion onto his bed only to wake a few hours later. Only when Annabeth was there did it get even a little bit better, but it was only recently that Hedge had allowed them to be together every night. Percy was very thankful for that.

As Percy lay there and tried to lull himself to sleep, he couldn't help but think about Annabeth. Regardless of how he dreamed about the other girl, nothing would ever change how he felt about her. Avoiding her and lying to her felt awful. But she couldn't know, for the simple reason that Percy was terrified that if she knew what really happened down there, she might abandon him. And that idea scared him more than anything else he had ever faced. It was probably an unfounded fear, but one dream that Percy had, the only one that repeated itself, amplified that fear exponentially. _But let's hope we don't have to deal with that one today_, Percy thought. Flipping his pillow over to the cool side, Percy tried to rest.

Hope, it seemed, had given up on Percy. For as Percy sat astride his horse that was not Blackjack, wearing armour that was not Greek, and holding a weapon that was not Riptide, he knew it was the repeat. He just could not catch a break.

"My Prince, it's as you feared. The infected grain was distributed through the city days ago, and that foul demon was spotted on the city walls. What are your orders?" Percy had never met the man in his life, and yet he knew it was Lieutenant Falrevere, back with his scouting part into Strathmore.

Percy felt himself saying things he didn't want to say. Things he had heard many nights before and since, and yet did not want to hear. "We have no choice. Take three brigades, two on foot and one on horse. Funnel the civilians… funnel them through to the South Gate, where we will be waiting for them. Purge the city. And if you see the demon who started this, have your mage's send up the signal and I will put an end to him." _Please, please don't let this happen again._

As his soldiers rode off to carry out his orders, _She _began to speak. "Arthas, you can't be serious.". Percy couldn't handle the look of absolute betrayal and disgust on her face. If he had truly been in control of whatever was happening, he would have looked away, he would have done whatever it took to take that look off her face. "You're talking about murdering civilians. They're innocent."

_No, please don't do this_, "Innocent? Within hours they will be mindless savages at the whim of that demon, doing their damndest to spread their disease. I will not subject my kingdom to that."

A new voice broke into the argument. "It's not your kingdom yet, boy." A hulking blonde man now joined them, "Please reconsider this move Arthas. Call off your men, there has to be another way!" Hefted over his shoulder was a massive warhammer, and the man seemed to give off a slight golden glow. But Percy already knew how this conversation would go. And he would hate every second of it.

"There is no other way, Uther." He felt himself say. "Now, lead your men down to the city, and wait at the Southern Gate."

But the imposing man in front of him met his eyes with a steely determination, "Even if you were my king, I would not follow that order. I will lead my men, but far away from this city, and your madness." As he walked away, Percy felt something inside himself die a little bit. He did not know why this man's opinion was so important to him, but that whoever he was right now was hurt by this man's actions. _But what was about to happen next would tear him apart._

"Well?" He felt himself say to the beautiful woman beside him. _Please just this once change._ _Please don't do it._

"I can't, Arthas. I'm sorry… please don't make me do this. Find another way. Please." There were tears in her eyes at this point. But her decision was written on her face. She would not partake in this horrible act. She was going to abandon him.

With a heart shredded into a thousand pieces, he felt himself harden his face, and hide the tear that fell down his face. _And this is where it ends._ It always ended at this point. Percy was just waiting to wake up at this point.

The dream didn't end.

"Goodbye Jaina." _So that was her name - better than calling the woman 'Her' all the time._ And he felt himself walk away. _Turn around you idiot. Go back to her_. But he couldn't. He wasn't in control. And he felt himself kick his horse lightly into a trot, leading his troops towards the city. Percy was not in control as he heard the screams. He could do nothing as he spoke to the demon, who called himself Mal'Ganis. He could do nothing as he ordered his troops forward, to slaughter the men, and the women, and even the children.

When Percy woke up in his room to the shout of "Dinner!" He was crying, and he was alone.

**AN - I hope you enjoyed this and can see that this is all building up to something incredible! Please review! I like to hear your thoughts. When I start getting a lot more reviews I won't answer them in the chapters themselves but rather through PM, but until then I will.**

**To Anonymous - Yeah I've read that same fic about Percy and Annabeth getting blessed by Nyx and Erebus, but really Percy's conversation with Nyx is definitely the only similarity between the two fics. As for the Ichor, if Percy tried to attack Nyx, Annabeth would be dead very quickly as Nyx had complete control over her. I also believe I mentioned that Percy considered fighting, but realized it would be futile. For the rest of your questions, you're just going to have to read to find out!**

**To** **NecroKnight 303 - I agree in that rick missed an interesting character arc exploring Percy's inner darkness, and did him a disservice with that weird scene with Kymopoleia that wasn't even from Percy's point of view. I'm glad you enjoy the story, and thanks for the glowing review! I hope I don't disappoint! **


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